I just can't put myself behind Buffy/Spike because of the way he treats her and the obvious self-loathing it creates in Buffy. There are moments in Season Five where I believe Spike cares for her, and some near the end of Season Seven, but for most of this season, it feels like a sick, manipulative lust.

But that's what makes it so compelling, and why some of us are disappointed that S6 wasn't darker in tone. Buffy becoming involved in a destructive, manipulative relationship just so she could feel something AND allowing that relationship to further alienate her from her friends? Spot-on in terms of early 20s fucked-up depression. The only thing that rang horribly, horribly false was the B/S relationship in S7. Once you've realized the person you've been sleeping with is a charming, manipulative psycho? You do not allow him back into your life EVEN if he says he's changed and he did it all for you. You keep a wary distance and/or get a restraining order.

I like Buffy/Spike sex.

Even the Doublemeat Palace dumpster diving?

No...although I'd forgotten about it, which makes an incident in one of my fics even funnier and a two-show shoutout...go me.(I actually considered having Munch and Kay knock over somebody's figure of a house so they could break a house, but it strained credibility.)

I thought the house-breaking sex in "Smashed" was the hottest thing I've seen on my TV screen in a while. After that, the sex got repetitive and sad and sordid very quickly, which I thought was kind of the point.

I like the Doublemeat Sex. I don't think it was supposed to be hot. Tawdry, and eminently suitable. The Bronze catwalk sex was even better.

The Bronze catwalk sex was even better.

Hot, dysfunctional, and bringing back memories some of us really didn't want to re-live.

Self-destructive tendencies in fiction just make me go, "Call me when he/she grows up." Dark plots do nothing for me. If I want depressing I'll go to the ER. And the house-breaking sex made me change the channel and check back every few seconds to see if they'd finished.

Dark plots do nothing for me.

Dark plots are one of the key reasons I tune in to Buffy and Angel.

The Bronze catwalk sex made me hurt for Buffy. She was drowning in degradation. And it made me hurt a little for Spike, because it was clear he didn't have a clue how to love in any way that mattered. He could feel love, but not give it.

Oddly enough, although Smashed was the hottest sex, I think the hottest Buffy/Spike moment was their kiss at the end of Tabula Rasa. That made my knees weak.

The kiss at the end of OMWF hit me hard, because I never ever thought that could happen.